Witness History

Russian composer Dmitri Shostakovich was one of the greatest musicians of the 20th century. But in 1936, Joseph Stalin attended a performance of Shostakovich's opera, Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk.

The Soviet leader was unimpressed and left early. Days later, the state newspaper Pravda published a scathing review titled 'Muddle instead of music', castigating the music as bourgeois.

Shostakovich was blacklisted from public life, and feare...

On 9 August 1945, the United States dropped an atomic bomb on Nagasaki, in Japan, killing at least 74,000 people.

It led to the end of the World War Two in Asia, with Japan surrendering to the Allies six days later.

The bomb, alongside the Hiroshima bomb on 6 August, remain the only times nuclear weapons have been used in a war.

In an interview he gave to the BBC in 1980, British prisoner of war Geoff Sherring describes how he survi...

The epic space story of a sci-fi dream that changed spaceflight forever. Told by the Nasa astronauts and team who made it happen. Our multi-award-winning podcast is back, hosted by space scientist Maggie Aderin-Pocock. She tells the story of triumph and tragedy - of a dream that revolutionised modern space travel forever.

You can listen to the trailer here. To hear episodes, search for 13 Minutes Presents: The Space Shuttle, wherev...

On 1 August 2000, a new rollercoaster opened to the public at a theme park in Japan.

Named Steel Dragon 2000, it's located at the Nagashima Spa Land amusement park in Kuwana.

When it first opened, it broke world records, being named the longest rollercoaster in the world, at just under 2.5km long.

Kurt Brookes hears from its designer, Steve Okamoto.

A Made In Manchester production.

Eye-witness accounts brought to life by archive. Wit...

By 2007, the 25,000 residents of a Chilean mining town had moved out of their homes due to concerns about pollution levels from one of the largest copper mines in the world.

Today, the ghost town of Chuquicamata, located in the Atacama Desert, lies empty.

But once a year, the former residents return to celebrate the life they once had there with a weekend of partying, during which they sing happy birthday to the town.

Patricia Rojas r...

In 1986, a world record attempt was launched by the city of Cleveland, in the US.

One and a half million balloons were blown up by volunteers ready to be released into the sky, with thousands of people watching.

It was meant to be a dazzling publicity stunt, but due to strong winds and a cold front, the balloons didn't float away as expected.

Colm Flynn speaks to Tom Holowatch, who was the project manager of BalloonFest '86, about ...

On 29 July 2000, retired Spanish politician Juan Mari Jáuregui was assassinated by Basque separatists Eta. Deemed a terrorist organisation by the European Union, Eta killed more than 800 people between 1968 and 2010. Its goal was to create an independent Basque state out of territory in south-west France and northern Spain.

Following Jáuregui’s murder, his widow Maixabel Lasa worked to help victims of political violence and highlig...

In 1907, the men who would go on to lead the Russian Revolution met in London for a crucial congress.

But the revolutionaries – including Vladimir Lenin, Joseph Stalin, and Leon Trotsky – were nearly stranded after running out of funds.

The late British journalist Henry Brailsford played a key role in securing their fare home.

In 1947, he told the BBC how the meeting marked a point of no return for the party’s two warring factions – t...

It's 50 years since theatre history was made - the premiere of A Chorus Line. It was seen as a seminal moment, turning the spotlight on the people who make the show for the first time.

Baayork Lee tells Josephine McDermott how she played Connie Wong in the original production. Like many of the first cast, her true life experiences made it into the show which was developed in workshops by director and choreographer Michael Bennett.

Ba...

In 1965, a new fibre was discovered by Polish American scientist Stephanie Kwolek. It was called Kevlar and it was found to be five times stronger than steel.

Since that discovery it’s been used to save thousands of lives through its use in bulletproof vests, but it’s also used in hundreds of other products from aeroplanes to protective clothing for motorcyclists.

Stephanie was one of the only female scientists working for the ch...

In January 1994, two presidents enjoyed a memorable night in the Czech Republic – ending with an impromptu jazz performance.

Five years after the fall of communism, the US president Bill Clinton visited Prague to share his hopes for a new transatlantic alliance.

Key to his vision was his friendship with the Czech president Vaclav Havel, a playwright who had been imprisoned for dissidence during the Cold War.

During the visit, Havel ar...

On 22 July 2005, an unarmed Brazilian man was shot dead by anti-terrorism police at Stockwell Tube station, in London.

Jean Charles de Menezes was shot seven times in the head because he was mistaken for a terror suspect.

The killing made headlines all over the world and his family demanded justice.

Matt Pintus spoke to Jean Charles’ cousin and best friend, Patricia da Silva, in 2022.

Eye-witness accounts brought to life by archive. ...

Irawati Karve became India’s first female anthropologist - studying tribes that nobody had investigated, and taking her children on expeditions deep in the rainforest.

In 1927, she dared to defy the racist theory of Eugen Fischer, a famous German professor during her PhD in Berlin. Irawati scientifically rejected human differences to justify discrimination, and was the first to do so.

Her granddaughter, Urmilla Deshpande, speaks to ...

In the late 1970s, disco died in America and a new wave of Italian producers took advantage of the advances in electronic instruments to craft their own dancefloor fillers.

The result was Italo disco – a genre of music recognisable for its synthesiser beats, heavily accented English lyrics and catchy melodies.

One of the biggest hits was Dolce Vita.

Singer Ryan Paris – real name Fabio Roscioli – tells Vicky Farncombe how it felt to be...

In 1995, an international row broke out between Canada and Spain over fishing quotas. It started with gunfire and ended with a deal.

The dispute began after Canada set up restrictions to protect fish stocks, including the turbot. A 320km (200 mile) controlled zone was placed around the country’s north Atlantic coast. Fishermen also had to stick to quotas.

But, according to Canada, some boats from the European Union were catching far...

It was a week that brought the future of Greece and the Eurozone to the brink. Ten years ago, on 6 July the Greek people voted against the terms of a financial bailout which included raising taxes and slashing welfare spending.

Greece owed €323bn to various countries and banks within Europe. Its banks were closed. A quarter of the population and half of Greece’s young people were unemployed.

The morning after the vote, Euclid Tsakal...

On 14 July 2015, Iran agreed to temporarily limit its nuclear programme. The deal was signed in Vienna, the capital of Austria.

Officially known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), it was agreed between Iran and a group of world powers known as the P5+1 – the US, UK, France, China, Russia and Germany, together with the EU.

The accord came after years of tension over Iran’s alleged efforts to develop a nuclear weapon....

In March 2025, radio frequencies worldwide stopped carrying Voice of America broadcasts for the first time in 83 years.

President Donald Trump’s administration had imposed funding cuts on the US Agency for Global Media with the White House accusing the broadcaster of being "anti-Trump", "radical" and "leftist”. While the cuts are being disputed in courts, Josephine McDermott traces the beginnings of the overseas broadcaster which w...

In 1941, Walt Disney made a tempting offer to a fellow pioneer of the animation industry, Quirino Cristiani - the author of the first animated feature film.

Cristiani was an Italian immigrant raised in Argentina who built a career creating animated political satires in the early days of cinema. He authored full-length movies that he drew entirely on his own, sketching and cutting thousands of figures that he tied with thread to faci...